How To Get The Most Out Of Mobile Banking Apps

The growing importance of mobile is clear, and banks need to take steps now to maximize their mobile offerings to attract mobile-first customers.

Most banks have a few years of experience in mobile banking now and are looking ahead to what their next upgrades to mobile will be. The question facing all of these institutions and their IT teams is how can they get the most out of their mobile channel, says Vijai Shankar, director of product marketing at Kony, a mobile applications developer.

It’s vital that banks take full use of the capabilities that mobile offers because mobile transactions are the cheapest for the bank to process, Shankar argues. For example, banks save an average of $4.15 in processing costs for every check that is deposited through mobile rather than the branch, according to a report released earlier this year by Javelin.

And banks are well aware that demographics are going to push them to improve their mobile apps and services. “There is already a large population of Gen X and Gen Y customers who are mobile-only… and that population will continue to grow over time,” Shankar notes.

To build upon current mobile offerings, banks need to look at mobile from a convenience standpoint, even when working on security, Shankar says. “We are now firmly in the customer experience world [in mobile]. Everything you do from a security standpoint has to be balanced with the experience,” he explains.

Although banks often struggle with balancing security and convenience, over time biometric authentication will provide a path to making mobile more secure and more convenient simultaneously, Shankar predicts.

However, voice biometric technology hasn’t reached the stage yet where it can be trusted 100% for authentication, he advises. “There is a significant issue with false positives, such as, say, I’m speaking in a noisy location. This issue can be circumvented by offering a back-up authentication method,” he adds.

In order to maximize customer experience with mobile, banks must take a more collaborative approach within their organization, Shankar counsels. Too often, he says, the mobile team is separate from the team’s working on other channels, creating a disjointed customer experience, he observes. It’s also helpful to have a multi-channel solution with the same code base, he notes. Breaking down the silos that separate mobile teams from the rest of the organization will ensure that a customer has a consistent experience when starting a task in one channel and then finishing it another, Shankar explains.

Lastly, banks need to find move past using mobile to cut costs and improve customer experience, and actually use it as a channel to grow revenue through value-added services, Shankar says. Mobile photo bill pay is a perfect example of a service that not all customers are going to use but some will be willing to pay for, he suggests. Another example he offers is immediate access of funds from a mobile deposit for a fee.

And although mobile payments are still nascent, Shankar says banks shouldn’t be shy about moving towards a wallet solution by offering a loyalty app comparable to Apple’s Passbook. Banks can use such an app to incentivize their credit or debit cards, and can incorporate geo-location data form the mobile device to make immediate and relevant coupons and offers.

Jonathan Camhi has been an associate editor with Bank Systems & Technology since 2012. He previously worked as a freelance journalist in New York City covering politics, health and immigration, and has a master's degree from the City University of New York's Graduate School ... View Full Bio

Mobile developers also need to play their part by building and maintaining secure mobile banking apps.

Results from a recent study reveal that 8 out of 10 mobile banking apps contain build and configuration setting weaknesses. While the issues identified are merely informational in terms of risk, they do provide insight into the state of mobile development practices among leading megabanks, regional banks, and credit unionsGă÷in short, basic security best practices are not being followed.

Fair point. Banks should be putting customer's interest first..above the bank product, but I think only a few are actually doing it effectively on a mobile device. Most banks are on 2.0, but hopefully they will move quickly to 3.0.

IGăÍd like to suggest that the industry is moving to mobilebanking 3.0 where the customerGăÍs interests are put first Gă˘ above product andbank promotion. By focusing on customer interests FIs will improve trust andloyalty, which will lead to longer-term relationships.

Gen X and Gen Y customers are going to be a driver of mobile banking 2.0 as they currently live on their mobile phones and expect instant communication. Any bank that appeals to the customer experience of mobile and combines that with security has an edge with this demographic.

A lot of these are already being explored on and as banks evolve to phase 2.0 of mobile banking, definitely eliminating the communication silos, trying to generate new revenue streams are being thought about.

A lot of banks are starting to implement some of these suggestions. More bank are integrating their mobile channel with other channels, and some of the services like mobile photo bill pay are getting out there. But very few are doing all of these things. A lot of that I'm sure goes back to having limited resources to deploy for this on channel.